There's Gonna Be Times (When You Feel Lonely)
by XxBamxX
Summary: Felicity wasn't aware of the rumors about her going through QC. She finds out the hard way and Oliver tries to comfort her.


**Just a little something I've been meaning to write for a while. Probably cliche haha but I hope you like it :)? **

**The title is from the song 'On Your Side' by SafetySuit. It's one of my favorite songs at the moment, and while it may not fit the story to the T, I feel it still matches the song pretty well.**

**Thank you for reading! Please leave a review? Constructive criticism ftw? :P**

* * *

She wasn't sure where she went wrong.

Ever since Felicity could remember, she never really struggled with the social aspects of life. With the exception of a few arrogant people in high school who would tease her about her love for technology. Even then it was nothing major. Nothing out of the ordinary for any other teenager out there.

With her skill set, MIT was basically a breeze and she managed to graduate in the top-five of her class. Given that she was so good at what she was doing, she had plenty of time to socialize. To the best of her knowledge, she hadn't ever really heard any foul comments regarding her.

Other than that one guy she turned down her junior year.

Even though she had done it in the politest way she possibly could, he didn't take it as well as she would have hoped. Fortunately he wasn't that spiteful, and his verbal display of rejection was said to her and that was the end of that.

When she got hired at Queen Consolidated right out of college, she was ecstatic. She fit right in and luckily got along with everyone in her department. Even people who weren't in her department would stop to talk to her when they saw her.

She didn't take any of that for granted.

Despite how easy it was for her to get along with other people, Felicity was insecure. If she wanted to give a reason, she could probably link it to the fact that her father abandoned her when she was a child. That her mother, even though she tried not to, would occasionally allude to it being Felicity's fault.

But she didn't want to attach a reason to it.

She didn't like to think about her insecurities. Instead she unconsciously hid behind her rambling. If she wasn't talking then she wasn't doing much thinking. Sometimes even something as simple as _thinking_ would send her down a path she didn't ever want to go. She wasn't depressed. Not by any means. But she couldn't help but feel a lack of self-worth from time to time.

We are our own worst enemy after all.

* * *

When Oliver made the changes to take her from IT and make her his EA she was furious. She worked long and hard to get her degree in something she loved and here he was putting her in a position where her degree would not be put to use at all.

There was no warning. No _'Hey, Felicity, would you mind…'_

Nope. Nothing.

Eventually she came to terms with the new position. Well, more like gave up a fight. He wasn't wrong in why he did it. It was the 'how' that got to her. She realized, however, that arrow business came first and if this helped, then so be it. The increase in salary he arranged for her made it worthwhile.

So here she was.

Sitting at her desk answering e-mails and getting Oliver's meeting schedule together for him while simultaneously bopping her head to the song coming from earphones. He could deprive her of her hacking at work, but he'd be damned if he tried to keep her from listening to music occasionally as well.

Despite the late night they had last night at their 'other job', Felicity found herself in a very good mood today. Not that she wasn't usually in a good mood any other day.

She woke up just before her alarm and felt surprisingly content with how well-rested she felt. Green lights all the way to work and beautiful weather were added bonuses to her day.

Now humming along to the song as well, she was looking over Oliver's schedule to make sure everything was in order. Satisfied, she removed her headphones and went to get up only to jump back as her heart raced.

"Jesus, Oliver! Way to creep up on me! Are you trying to kill me?" Oliver smirked, holding back his laughter.

"It was not my intention, Felicity. Especially after trying to get your attention for the past few minutes." She faltered, looking down to hide her blushing. "Can you take these down to Alan in Accounting?"

She took the papers from him, "Yeah, well, totally not my fault. I was… ugh, fine but I was multitasking! I was doing my secretarial duties like the good assistant that I am, thank you very much. Which by the way you so owe me coffee for dealing with that investor from Central City. Have you ever read his e-mails? He uses internet slang! Who does that? I mean really he-"

"Felicity!"

"Right, sorry," She gave him a sheepish smile and handed him his schedule, "Just look that over while I run down there and when I come back up I'll give you a brief for your meetings."

"Thank you, Felicity." Oliver turned back to go to his office, shaking his head in amusement.

After getting off the elevator, Felicity made her way down the hall glancing at the name plates on the office doors in search for Alan's office. Not looking ahead of her, she came to an abrupt stop, papers falling to the floor.

"Oh no, I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking and- oh your papers are everywhere!" She knelt down to gather hers, and the other person's papers.

"Felicity?" She looked up at the other person, who had also bent down to collect their things.

"Andrea! How are you?" They both stood.

"Good, just dealing with the typical '_my computer won't turn on.' _Though that's expected when the monitor isn't plugged into the wall _or_ the tower." They laughed, "How have you been? We haven't seen you since you got the new position that you didn't even tell us about."

"I would have but I didn't even know Oli- Mr. Queen did that until that morning."

"Right" Andrea gave a tight smile, "Well I've got to go solve another computer complication. It was good seeing you."

"You too! Maybe we can all get together again like old times!" Felicity suggested having missed all her friends from IT. She had meant to visit them often but being Executive Assistant to the CEO didn't leave her with free time very often.

They said their goodbyes and Felicity continued her search for her destination.

After dropping off the paperwork to the accountant, Felicity decided to go down to the IT department to say hello to her old friends. Oliver's meeting wasn't for another two hours so she didn't think he would mind if she made a pit-stop before heading back up.

Getting in the elevator she hummed along to the song she had been listening to earlier that was stuck in her head. As she stepped out of the elevator she couldn't help but smile. Her first real job was on this floor and she loved every moment of it. She loved working with Oliver and Digg and now she wouldn't want to trade that for anything, but she couldn't help but feel like she still sometimes belonged here.

Upon entering the offices she found it empty. Confused, she went to turn back before remembering that most of them had their breaks at this time. She headed toward the break room and smiled when she heard the voices of her old co-workers.

As she got closer to the door, she stopped when she heard her name. She normally wouldn't have thought too much into it but the tone of it made her come to a halt just outside the break room door.

"-obvious how she got it. Have you seen the things she wears now?" Her brows furrowed as she listened in and heard Andrea's voice.

"Seen them? How could you not! Man, who knew she had such killer legs! I'd sure like to-" a voice she recognized to be Bill Adams exclaimed. Her heart clenched at the comment. Bill had been a friend, one who she respected and until now thought he respected her as well.

"Oh stop it," a glint of hope filled her as her previous cubicle neighbor, Amy, interruptedBill "Not even you could stoop that low. She must have_ some_ experience to get _Oliver Queen_ of all people to sleep with her." Her head swam as her eyes started to fill with tears.

Is this really what people thought of her? The thought of people thinking she slept her way to the position never even crossed her mind, but now here she was. Listening as her 'friends' bashed her making crude remarks about her and Oliver. Suddenly self-conscious of the dress she was wearing, she tried tugging it down. When she put it on this morning she thought she looked cute. Now she felt sick. Never in a million years would she think people would be spreading those rumors about her.

She was brought back out of her thoughts as laughter filled the room.

"Wonder if I can get her to service _my_ hardware." More laughter.

She was suddenly filled with anger. Pushing back her tears, she strode into the room.

"Are you _serious_?" All eyes turned on her. Widened with surprise and fear of being caught.

"_Wow_. And to think I thought of you all as friends at one point. Jokes on me isn't it?! Oh, but looks like you guys all have your own jokes to go around, huh?" She looked at each of them glaring hard and, oh if only looks could kill.

"What, now none of you have anything to say? Because I'm pretty sure I heard all of you with your fair share of accusations. That I _slept with Oliver Queen? _You're all delusional! And ignorant! Oh my god, you're all such _assholes_. I can't believe I ever believed any of you were good people. Talking about someone behind their back like that?"

"I'm sor-" Amy started to speak, but Felicity shot her a look and pointed her finger accusatorially.

"Don't you _dare _finish that_._ I did _not_ sleep with Oliver Queen. I would have thought you all knew me well enough. Who knew you were all so two-faced. I gave you far too much credit. You can all go to hell."

And with that she spun on her heel marching out of the dead-silent room. Once filled with laughter, now quiet enough to hear a pin drop.

She made it all the way back to the elevator with her head held high.

As soon as the doors closed, she felt the familiar sting in her eyes.

She forced them back as much as she could, trying to her best to put up a façade so Oliver wouldn't know something was wrong. But as the numbers got closer and closer she wasn't sure how much longer she could contain her emotions.

Her morning started out wonderfully as everything was going her way.

Now it's like her luck did a one-eighty because as the elevator doors opened, there stood Oliver.

"Hey, I was just coming to look for yo- Felicity?" She darted past him without a word and into the ladies room. Not quick enough to hide her red-rimmed eyes and the tears that were streaming down her face.

She all but slammed the door to the ladies room, hastily locking it in attempt to hide from the world. Gut-wrenching sobs broke from her very core as she slid back against the door bringing her knees to her chest. She didn't like her emotions running rampant like this. She usually liked to maintain control over things like this, but the shock of what was going on behind her back was too much. She wasn't thinking clearly.

Tears ran down her face and she tried to stifle her sobs, but every time she wiped away the tears, new ones appeared.

The knob jostled before the sound of a fist banging on the door filled the small room.

"Felicity? Felicity, open the door." Embarrassment flooded through her for the second time today.

"Oliver, please, just… leave me alone right now."

Oliver pressed his head against the door, eyes closing briefly at how broken Felicity sounded. He'd be lying if he said the sight that greeted him upon the elevator doors opening didn't baffle him. She left not even twenty minutes prior in one of her better moods. Now it was like that had never even happened.

"Felicity… Don't make me break down this door. You know I can." It wasn't an order, as much as it sounded like one. It wasn't said with the authoritative tone that Oliver usually has. She didn't know what it was but just the way he said it had her hesitating, taking a deep breath, before she stood.

Dragging in a few shaky breaths, she tried to quell her distraught.

From outside the door Oliver could hear that she stood up away from the door. He expected her to open the door but when there was no change, he tried the knob again.

"_Felicity._"

"Okay…okay." Felicity slowly unlocked the door not sure whether that was a good idea or not but she didn't want him worrying about her for something so stupid. Or what she thought was stupid.

Hearing the lock turn, he tried again. He wanted to fling the door open and find out what was wrong so he could fix it. Logic took over and he didn't know whether or not she was still right behind the door, or even what was wrong so he took a more civil approach.

When the door was open and he got a good look at Felicity since she came back his heart clenched. The look on her face was enough to break the usually stoic mans heart.

She looked at him as he entered, but immediately looked away, not wanting to experience any more judgment. She wasn't sure if she'd be able to handle it at the moment. Especially not from Oliver.

Never from Oliver.

She jumped at the feel of Oliver's hands on her upper arms not having heard him approach. Trying to step back his grasp tightened slightly.

"Hey," He said gently, "What happened? Talk to me, Felicity." She shook her head still not looking at him, but when his right hand rested against her cheek, fingers nearly resting through her hair she looked up. He brushed away some of the tears with his thumb with a surprisingly soft touch considering the callousness of his hands. She closed her eyes, not even fully realizing it, just trying to hide. Hide from the reality. Hide from the judgment.

No longer feeling his hands, she opened her eyes, surprised to see no judgment but instead determination.

"Okay, I'm going to go down and find out what happened for myself. Wait here." He pivoted on one foot, ready to walk out the door but stopped when he felt Felicity's hand on his arm.

"No! No… Oliver, please, don't." She pleaded, her voice small, almost frightened. He turned back to her.

"Felicity, tell me what is going on. Now."

"I, I didn't know. How could I not have realized? I'm such an _idiot_."

"Hey, no, you are _not_ an idiot, Felicity." He grabbed her hand in his, "What did you not realize?" She sighed, dreading telling him but knowing she needed to get it over with.

"They... I ran into someone I used to work with down in IT on the way to drop off those papers for you. And I, I missed working down there, you know? They were my friends and I… So I figured I'd stop by and say hello to the rest of them." She stopped. Not knowing how to continue, especially since it was a rumor he was also involved in. He gave her hand a squeeze urging her to continue.

"I, uh, I was about to go into the break room when I heard them talking ab-about _me_. And not in a good 'she's-our-friend' way. My _friends_ the people I thought I could trust… they were making implications on how I got to be your Executive Assistant. That I… That I…."

She looked away closing her eyes not wanting to see his reaction.

"They think I slept with you, and that's why I'm here and not there." She said it so quietly and when there was no response she looked at him thinking maybe he hadn't heard her. But when she looked at him it was clear he had heard. However, it wasn't the reaction she expected. She wasn't sure what to expect, but 'surprise' was an obvious reaction.

But there was no surprise. No shock. Instead he looked angry…tense.

"Oliver? Did… Did you know that's what people thought?" She was hesitant. The last thing she wanted to believe was that he knew and kept it from her.

"Isabelle…she mentioned it," He looked away and for a moment she thought she saw a hint of regret, "while we were in Russia."

She took a step back. Her vision blurred, not sure if it was from the emotional stress of the day. The fact that Oliver _knew_.

Or the fact the a new set of tears were flooding her eyes.

Angrily, she wiped them away.

"You _knew_…no, no. You couldn't have. I mean, why wouldn't you tell me? That's something I deserve to know, isn't it? That people are spreading rumors like that about me? You would tell me that." Oliver took a step towards her. "You would tell me. You… oh, god. _Why wouldn't you tell me that?_ Oliver...I-"

Oliver was good as keeping his emotions in check. His poker face had never been better since his time on the island. But right now? Right now seeing Felicity so distraught and _broken_ made him feel so much regret of not telling her. At this moment he would do anything to go back and fix it. Had she not been breaking down in front of him he would have very well went downstairs and arrowed everyone who spoke ill of Felicity.

He wrapped her in his arms trying to calm her down, but she struggled against him.

"No! No, leave me alone! I can't believe- I can't believe you would keep that from me! I… I can't…I" She collapsed against him. His arms wrapped around her the only thing keeping her from hitting the floor. She cried, sobbed against him, no longer having it in her to put up a fight.

He picked her up and carried her out of the ladies room and over to the couch they kept outside his office for waiting clients. Once she was sat on the couch she scooted farther down, away from Oliver. He knelt down in front her grabbing her hands. She tried to pull away but his grip tightened.

"Hey, hey look at me. Felicity, please." Hesitantly her eyes met his.

"I knew, yes, and I'm _sorry_. I am. I should have told you but I didn't think it was that bad. I thought it was just Isabelle who thought that and I set her straight. I promise. If I had known, I would have done something."

She didn't respond. She didn't look at him. But when he moved to sit next to her, she didn't move away.

They sat in silence for what felt like a lifetime before she spoke.

"They hate me." Her broken whisper hit him like a punch.

"Felicity, no one could _ever_ hate you. And if they do, then they're not worth it."

She leaned into him her head resting on his shoulder. She was still mad at him for not telling her, not as much as before, but she had good reason. Though she knew she couldn't stay mad at Oliver for long. She didn't want to lose him. Him and Digg were all she had. Especially now that she had no friends left in IT.

"I don't know what I did wrong."

"Stop. You didn't do anything wrong. People are assholes. Everyone but you." She looked at him as he smiled at her.

"I'm sorry for yelling at you. It's just… I was having such a good day and now it's ruined."

Oliver stood abruptly, "It's not ruined. Come on, it's still early. Let's get out of here, okay? Grab some lunch?"

"No, Oliver, we can't. You have multiple meetings today that you need to prepare for."

He shrugged his shoulders, "Cancel them."

"Canc-? Oliver, no don't be stupid." She let out a small laugh of disbelief, suddenly questioning his sanity.

"You really think it's a good idea to call a hooded vigilante stupid?" He said teasingly.

She rolled her eyes, "You wouldn't hurt me, Queen."

"You're right," He looked at her seriously, "I wouldn't." Then his demeanor changed, smiling at her he started walking away. "Cancel my meetings, Felicity! I'll be right back. I have to go check on something."

With a sigh she went to her desk to make the necessary calls.

They went to lunch that day with Digg at Big Belly Burger. By the end of it the previous events were pushed to the back of her mind.

That is until they arrived back at Queen Consolidated. Oliver led her into the building with his hand on the small of her back. She thought nothing of it as it wasn't uncommon for him to do that. However when they passed Bill in the hallway she stilled stepping away from Oliver. Fear of the accusatory looks or snide remarks she knew he was capable of filled her.

But when he looked away, nearly hugging the wall as he passed by them, she was confused. Looking up at Oliver she noticed the terse look that adorned his features. The look she'd seen often when he was in Arrow-mode now directed at Bill.

She should have been mad that he confronted them. Mad that he did it without her knowledge, leaving her in the dark once again. But the care in his eyes when he looked back at her left her breathless.

Despite the fact that she had no solid friendships with anyone from her childhood to her work in IT, it didn't matter anymore.

She had Oliver.

She had Digg.

Her boys.

And that's all she really needed.


End file.
